| Audrey McLaughlin becomes NDP leader

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA — Yukon MP Audrey McLaughlin was elected as the Federal New Democratic Party Leader here on December 2. With support from 1,316 convention dele- gates, Ms. McLaughlin narrowly edged B.C.’s Dave Barrett by only 244 votes.

Ina dramatic turn of events, candi- date Simon DeJong broke a commit- ment to Barrett before the final fourth ballot, giving McLaughlin great momentum going into the final vote count.

Throughout the leadership cam- paign, IWA-CANADA delegates cam- paigned and lobbied on behalf of Dave Barrett, MP from Esquimalt-Juan DeFuca. However, concentrated sup- port from central Canadian constitu- encies and unions such as the Cana- dian Auto Workers and the United Steelworkers also helped in giving the McLaughlin party its victory.

IWA-CANADA First Vice-President and Convention Delegate Gerry Stoney says that it will take a while for the dust to settle after Audrey McLaughlin's narrow win.

“As everyone knows, we strongly supported Dave Barrett for leader. We know him well, know that he worked hard, faithfully and effectively as opposition leader and as head of the B.C. government,” commented Bro- ther Stoney.

“We intend no disrespect for Ms. McLaughlin when we say that Dave deserved better of the Party he has served so well for so many years,” said Stoney. “It is one thing for NDP’ers to have decided that some other candi- date was, for whatever reason, a bet- ter choice. It was quite another thing to victimize him in the now well- documented ways that he was treated.

“Not only Dave, but the Party, deserved better of many prominent

© Audrey McLaughlin

members. That said, we accept that Audrey McLaughlin is now Leader of the Party, and as time passes, there is

no doubt that everyone in IWA-CAN- ADA will support her.”

“IWA members face crucial provin- cial elections in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In addition, we face a uphill struggle against Mulroney's continuing campaign of shoving a U.S. corporate agenda down Cana- dian throats. In every leadership con- test, one ‘side’ has to accept the will of the majority and settle down to work.”

Ms. McLaughlin's first responses as new leader suggest that she under- stands the difficult task of rebuilding confidence and trust which is abso- lutely essential. If she and her new team continue in that vein, that con- fidence should reappear.

Union President Jack Munro played a key role in persuading Dave Barrett to run for the leadership and helped gain the support of some dozen Members of Parliament.

‘Ahard lesson learned | at NDP Convention

The only possible reason that any- one would agree to carry a concealed wireless microphone on their person during an occasion such as the Fed- eral NDP Convention is to hopefully become a star on a television docu- mentary such as “The Journal” on CBC.

One of the positive things that came out of the recent leadership

convention is that it will probably be a long time before anyone at a Federal NDP Convention or any other politi- cal or labour convention will be talked into wearing a hidden wireless micro- phone for a television network, or anyone else for that matter.

The colossal embarrassment to some delegates who agreed to do this at the recent Federal NDP Convention will ensure that this will not likely happen again.

The most glaring example of the dangers involved was the exposure of the meeting between Dave Barrett and Simon DeJong. Barrett, who pre- sumed he was in the privacy of a closed room, discovered later that DeJong was wearing a concealed microphone. What had to be consid- ered a very private meeting was exposed to millions of Canadians the night after the end of the convention.

The lesson for many convention delegates from this experience will undoubtedly ensure that “private meetings” will be driven far into the backrooms, well away from Conven- tion centres and eavesdropping reporters in the future. It will not stop the meetings from taking place — that is politics. But it will ensure that private meetings will indeed be private.

One delegate who admitted to wear- ing a microphone justified this by stating that he advised anyone that he was talking to that he was “wired.” This isn’t and would never be good enough. Any conversation by anyone within ten feet of the person wearing the “mike” is recorded and the infor- mation is available to the media and to anyone else the media wants to know about what was said.

Surely there are other ways for those people who can be conned into being walking stool pigeons for the media to get on television.

They might consider going back to just giving an interview on a subject they agree to talk about, or they could always enter a leadership race and be satisfied with the amount of media attention their performance merits.

— Gerry Stoney

UNION JACK and ED swap books

® Union leader Jack Munro signs a copy of his new autobiography “UNION JACK" for friend Ed Broadbent during-IWA's Convention. In return, Broadbent signed a copy of his own book, which was released last year. “UNION JACK”, co-authored by Jane O'Hara, and published by Douglas and McIntyre, has hit the best-seller list in B.C. since its release in late September.

B.C. Fed forms new Environmental Task Force

VANCOUVER, B.C. — More than 890 delegates to the 34th Annual BC. Federation of Labour Convention unanimously supported a resolution calling for the establishment of a task force of trade unionists, aboriginal peoples, and environmental organiza- tions to develop policy on the environ- ment and economy. The resolution, adopted here on November 23, also calls upon the Federation to “support worker and community efforts to develop logging plans which would see critical watershed areas and eco- systems protected in balance with opportunities for economic develop- ment based on resource use in the areas...”

Roger Stanyer, IWA-CANADA Nat- ional Fifth Vice President and Presi- dent of Duncan Local 1-80, said the labour movement must seek input to establish clear priorities on commer- cial forest lands.

“We have to remember that there is a larger community that has a right to have a say in what happens to (forest) lands as well,” said Stanyer.

The Local President also mentioned areas of agreement between the union and environmentalists such as oppo- sition to the continuing practice of large and progressive clear-cuts, the destruction of land base due to log- ging road construction, the loss of soil to erosion, the waste of wood fibre, and the loss of jobs due to log export.

Stanyer told the delegates that the labour movement must change its direction and participate in submis- sions to governmental bodies on the environment and economy as well.

During Brother Stanyer’s term on the B.C. Wilderness Advisory Com- mittee in 1986, less than ten of some 1,150 submissions came from labour groups and while serving on the 1989 Strangway Commission on the Envi- ronment and Economy, less than five out of two hundred and fifty submis- sions were heard from trade unions.

IWA-CANADA’s Environment and Land Use Department Director, Clay Perry said, “It is not the fault of the conservationist groups or of the work- ers or their organizations that there is no process in which all of these things can be discussed and rational overall solutions reached.”

Norm McLellan, of the Canadian Paperworkers’ Union, said the resolu- tion will help settle confusion on issues and send the next NDP govern- ment strong signals from the labour

movement, which is the party’s

strongest supporter.

Geoff Meggs, of the United Fisher- men and Allied Workers, says the resolution marks “a coming of age for the labour movement.” He also said it will guide labour in avoiding a narrow approach to issues of conflicts.

The task force will develop a policy which addresses:

e the need for a balance between sus- tainable use of resources and envi- ronmental protection.

© ways of increasing employment dur- ing resource extraction and ways of allowing irreplaceable watersheds and wildlife habitat to renew them-

selves.

° procedures to resolve land-use disputes.

e development of programs to pro- tect workers against the costs of environmental protection to include dislocation and retraining allow-

ance.

e Roger Stanyer

Speaking in support of another BC. Federation of Labour resolu- tion calling for a Royal Commission into the forest industry, IWA Local 1-405 delegate Klaus Offermann said that such a Commission must allow workers and citizens to have a say in how forest lands are man- aged.

“Working together and with an NDP government, we could restock the forest land, and restore our ecological capital,” said Brother Offermann.

_“The proposed Royal Commis- sion will allow us once again to say to the government and to industry that we as woodworkers want to earn our daily bread from this rich land in such a fashion that our children and grandchildren will be able to do the same.”

2/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1989